Conventional light emitting assemblies for automotive vehicle headlights, sidelights and taillights typically include a bulb filament recessed in a reflector housing behind a cover lens. The light emitted from the bulb filament is reflected from the reflector housing outwardly through the cover lens to form a beam or planar light image. The cover lens shapes the light into the desired pattern, i.e. focused headlight beam or pattern side or rear signal. However, conventional bulb and reflector lighting systems are disadvantageous in terms of styling and size flexibility. The bulb and reflector require a significant depth and width to acquire desired focus and light dispersion through the cover lens, thus, limiting the ability to streamline and contour the light system.
Other systems have been developed to provide alternatives to the conventional bulb filament and reflector system utilizing a light pipe and collimator to direct the light to a reflective emitter having a plurality of lens facets to redirect the light in the desired path and a pattern. One such system is exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,792 to Jiao et al., issued Mar. 30, 1993.
The Jiao et al. '792 patent, however, has a number of deficiencies. One such deficiency is the lighting design creates a "black" area or shadow in the middle of the lens. This is created because light is not permitted to travel through a deflector which is mounted to the center of the assembly. Other deficiencies are that the design is not rotationally symmetric, and not easily compatible with a light emitting diode.